Rosamund Pike fought for her role in 'A Private War'

Actress Rosamund Pike says she had to fight to get the role of Marie Colvin in "A Private War".

Directed by Matthew Heineman, "A Private War" chronicles the life of Colvin and is based on Marie Brenner's 2012 Vanity Fair article "Marie Colvin's Private War". Colvin died in 2012 while covering the siege of Homs in Syria.

When Pike first heard the script through Amma Asante, she instantly fell in love with the story. When she discovered that Heineman was attached to direct it, she pushed for a meeting.

"I knew that Matt was a very original story-teller from seeing his docs," Pike said in a statement to IANS.

However, landing for this role wasn't easy for Pike. "I had a lot of convincing to do," she said.

The actress added: "I don't look much like Marie. I'm younger than her, I'm not American. There's a lot going against me. But I really wanted it. She entered my soul somehow when I first read that article. I don't know why.

"I don't have the desire to serve like she did. I don't have the courage. But I do understand about having a vocation that takes you suddenly out of your own daily life and then drops you back in. The distortion, or the disjunction between the two, can be troubling."

Heineman wasn't much convinced with Pike. Hence, after their meeting Heineman and Pike wrote each other essays of who they thought Marie was and found them to be strikingly similar.

"I knew right away that I wanted her to be Marie. Rosamund has that tenacity that Marie had. She fought for that role and she nailed it. She spent so much time researching Marie, understanding Marie, climbing inside of her head, her body, learning how Marie moved, how she held her tension in her neck and shoulder, really down to every single detail," the director said.

PVR Pictures is bringing the film in India. It will release on November 23.

--IANS

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